Franklin Regional freshman Megaludis takes title
| By Paul Kogut TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, December 30, 2007 Franklin Regional freshman Nico Megaludis entered his first major wrestling tournament as an unknown, at least according to the seedings, at the 41st Annual Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament.
Only the top eight wrestlers in each weight were seeded. Megaludis wasn't one of them, and he blended into his 35-man bracket. But Megaludis made a mega-name for himself and left Canon-McMillan High School with a Powerade title at 103 pounds. He looked composed under pressure, scored the final five points and defeated Christiansburg, Va., sophomore Devin Carter, 6-3, in the final. "I trained my butt off for this," Megaludis said. "States is the ultimate goal. This was one of my goals to get there. I'm real proud of it. I like that no one expected me to win. I like being the underdog." He is the second Powerade champ in school history. Other WPIAL wrestlers to capture Powerade titles were Penn-Trafford junior Shane Young (112 pounds), Hempfield senior Nico Cortese (119), Shady Side Academy junior Dane Johnson (125), Canon-McMillan senior Colin Johnston (135), and Albert Gallatin senior Lance Bryson (171). Johnston, a senior who is headed to West Virginia University, became only the 13th wrestler to win at least three Powerade titles during his career. That short list includes some of the top wrestlers in WPIAL history. Johnston is the 12th to win three championships. Only one wrestler has won four. Johnston also was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler. "It makes me feel good, knowing I'm with those people that have won so many times, the elite wrestlers," Johnston said. In a matchup of perhaps the top WPIAL Class AAA and AA wrestlers at their weight, Johnston notched a 5-2 win against Burrell's Shane Welsh, a Lehigh recruit. For Cortese and Young, it was their second Powerade title in as many years, and it wasn't easy for either. Young broke a 2-2 tie in the third period with a takedown and pin at 5:23. Young is 9-0 this season and has won 55 consecutive bouts. Young won the tournament's Most Falls award after recording four pins in five bouts. "I tried on the leg, his head came down and I locked up the cradle," said Young, about his last pin. "After winning last year, I felt like I had to repeat. There was a little more pressure." Cortese held on for a 6-5 win over Mike Garofalo of Colonial Forge, Va. Johnson won his championship in dramatic fashion, recording a takedown (worth two points) at the buzzer to edge Ian Squires, of Colonial Forge, Va., 5-4. The referees conferred for a few seconds after the bout before awarding Johnson the points. Shady Side Academy, a Class AA school, was the highest finishing WPIAL squad in the team standings. The Indians took third place, with 157 points. They finished behind Class AAA power Central Dauphin (214.5) and Colonial Forge, Va (198). Bryson defeated Peter Huntley, a Colonial Forge product, 9-4. Of the 14 championship bouts, nine featured one WPIAL wrestler, and only one - at 135 pounds -- matched two. That's a testament to the difficulty of the tournament and the quality of wrestlers from outside the WPIAL who participate. One of the finalists was from as far away as Georgia. |
FR Freshmen Wrestlers Bring Home Hardware
The Franklin Regional wrestling team is young, which for many squads would lead to a lengthy learning period for the inexperienced athletes.
But when the large group of freshmen and sophomore grapplers have spent nearly their entire lives on the wrestling mat, the learning curve is decreased dramatically.
The Panthers competed this weekend in the prestigious Top Hat Wrestling Tournament at
Nico Megaludis earned a first place finish at 103 pounds, and fellow freshman Trevor Medlang placed second at 112 pounds.
Each of the wrestlers had success at the middle school level and competed in numerous state and national tournaments of the past several years.
"We had two freshmen place, which I was pretty happy with. We also had a lot of guys win matches," coach Eric Mausser said. "It's a very tough tournament. We only took 12th out of 18 teams, but when you have some of the top teams in the state in the tournament, we fared pretty well, I thought."
Megaludis won his first match 17-1; his second, 19-2; and third, 16-7. Then in the finals, the Panther wrestler earned a 10-7 decision over Clayton Youtz from Central Dauphin, the top-ranked team in the state.
"He had a great tournament," the coach said. "He went 4-0, had two tech falls and a major decision in the semifinals."
Medlang also performed well despite falling to the eventual champion -- Simon Rice from Central Dauphin -- in the quarterfinals, 12-8, in double overtime.
"He wrestled pretty well," Mausser said.
"He ended up 5-1 in the tournament. He did a good job."
Other standouts for Franklin Regional included freshman Anthony Petrarca, who went 2-2 in the 119-pound weight class, as well as sophomore Andrew Farbarik, who also finished 2-2 at 152 pounds.
Central Dauphin won the team title at the Top Hat Tournament by edging
